AtomBeam

By 2025, the amount of data in the world is expected to reach ninety zettabytes. For reference, one zettabyte is equal to a trillion gigabytes.

But right now, the storage capacity of all the data centers globally is about two zettabytes. This overwhelming shortage is placing mounting pressure on networks, slowing and overloading them. So, what’s the answer?

AtomBeam has an idea. It’s a data-compaction software company that shrinks, secures, and speeds data transmission. Using machine learning and Artificial Intelligence, it reduces the size of data files by seventy-five percent, and adds a much-needed layer of security. This technology has the potential to free up space for all of this data and enable it to be shared quickly and securely.

AtomBeam is led by an experienced team. Its CEO has twenty-five years of financial experience, and led two prior companies. Its Chief Technology Officer managed software teams at HP, Siemens, and Red Hat. Its Chief Scientist is a mathematics professor at the University of South Carolina, and holds degrees from MIT and the University of California, San Diego. And its Chief Revenue Officer managed sales teams at SAP and Oracle.

With its technology, AtomBeam is targeting the market referred to as the “Internet of Things.” Essentially, this market includes physical objects that are embedded with sensors and software, and whose purpose is to “communicate” and exchange data using the internet.

In the consumer market, IoT technology is most closely associated with products that make up a smart home. These include devices and appliances like lighting fixtures, thermostats, security systems, and cameras.

As you might expect, IoT is a huge industry. By 2025, it’s projected to become an eleven-trillion-dollar market, according to Statista.

But as mentioned, this market is quickly running out of space to house all the data these devices will collect and transmit. That’s where AtomBeam’s software provides a solution. Here’s how it works:

The company’s software uses AI to seek out data patterns in a sample set of thousands, or even millions, of IoT files. When a data pattern repeats frequently, it’s placed in a codebook. An index or codeword is then assigned to the pattern.

Once complete, the codebook is loaded into a source, such as an IoT device, and then a destination. The source and destination can then communicate in codewords rather than the original data, greatly reducing transmission latency and the size of the data.

Admittedly, it can be tough for someone who's not a software engineer to wrap their head around why compaction is such a big deal. Here are a few examples:

• A company wants to switch from collecting and compressing millions of data files from its million machines once a day to sending them in real-time. But compression won't work on individual machine data files, so their connectivity costs will increase four-fold. Compaction can enable real-time data at no increase in cost — and added security.

• A military aircraft maker needs more bandwidth, but to upgrade radio hardware would cost millions. Compaction gives it what it needs for a fraction of the cost.

• It can take days for a pharmaceutical company to decompress millions of genomes to analyze a tiny part of them for drug research. AtomBeam's compaction software can perform this task in seconds.

Consider the impact of AtomBeam’s software in this use-case:

Let’s say a company needs to launch satellites that have a bandwidth of 160 gigabytes per second.

Satellites without AtomBeam’s technology can hold forty gigabytes per second. That means the company will need to launch four satellites. At $100 million per satellite, that’s a launch cost of $400 million.

With AtomBeam’s technology, each satellite can now how 160 gigabytes per second. That reduces the need to just one satellite, trimming costs to $100 million.

In addition to satellites, this technology has the potential in industries including wearables, remote sensors, computing, factory automation, “connected” vehicles, and cloud/data storage.

AtomBeam launched in September 2017. And it completed its software in October 2020. Since then, several large prospective customers are testing the product. Customers include a seventy-five-billion-dollar multinational Japanese consumer electronics conglomerate, a Fortune 50 heavy equipment manufacturer, a large satellite operator, and the U.S. Navy.

Elsewhere, AtomBeam has been issued nine patents and has thirteen additional ones pending.

To generate revenue, AtomBeam targets annual licensing fees which can range between $15,000 and $25,000 per server. The company has brought in minimal revenue to-date and will soon target accounts that produce a minimum of $250,000 per year in revenue.

Team Background

Josh Cooper - Chief Scientist

Josh is AtomBeam’s chief software architect and also a professor of Mathematics at the University of South Carolina.

Prior to these roles, he was Chief Data Scientist with Behavior Matrix, a market research company using machine learning and high-volume data processing. Before that, he was a post doctoral researcher at NYU, focusing on mathematics and computer science.

Earlier in his career, Josh was a consultant with Microsoft and spent four years as a teaching assistant at the University of California.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from MIT and a Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego.

Asghar Riahi - Chief Technical Officer

Asghar had the original idea for AtomBeam’s technology, and is responsible for its development and IP. He is a leading technology innovator with more than 25 years of experience in software and IT solutions.

Previously, he was an information systems analyst at the University of California, Berkeley School of Information. Before that, he spent two years as a solutions architect with Red Hat, a software company acquired by IBM in 2019 for $34 billion.

Earlier in his career, he was a cloud architect with Seagate Technology, a computer hardware company. Prior to that, he spent 13 years at HP, serving as a master technologist. He began his career as a senior systems architect with Electronic Data Systems and was also a senior programmer with Siemens.

Asghar earned a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the Vienna University of Technology and also studied at MIT.

Kent Warren - Chief Revenue Officer

In addition to his role with AtomBeam, Kent is a principal with K3 Clouds, a data center contractor. He splits his time evenly between the two businesses.

Previously, he was Senior Vice President at @Risk Technologies, a cybersecurity company. Before that, he was President of ManTech Commercial Services, another cybersecurity business.

Earlier, he started IT solution companies. Prior to that, he spent 13 years at SAP, a software company, helping clients such as the U.S. Department of Defense transform its supply chain. Kent began his career with Oracle, a multinational software company, and earned a Bachelor’s degree from Radford University.

Charles Yeomans - Chief Executive Officer

Charles has more than 25 years of experience in executive management and investment banking.

Prior to starting AtomBeam, he was CEO of Trigemina, a biotech company. Before that, he was CEO of an employee benefits technology company, Portal Group Holdings.

Earlier, he was Chief Operating Officer at Frenkel & CO, an insurance company, and before that was Executive Vice President of Ultralink, a technology firm.

Charles started out as an investment banker with Drexel Burnham Lambert, and was an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree from Kenyon College and an MBA from Stanford.

Co-Investors